Exhibits
A General Store is one of the exhibits on the first floor of the museum, displaying items from early business establishments in Hereford.
One of the greatest hardships the early settlers experienced was learning to live on the lonely, vast and often neighbor less Plains. The general store not only offered necessary provisions for survival, but also became a social center. It was a place to visit with other settlers, meet newcomers that had moved into the region and get news of the world "back home" from travelers and cowboys that roamed this great prairie.
A non-denominational Chapel is filled with a collection of treasured objects that have survived from the first churches built in the county. It showcases many of the stained glass windows. It reminds us that a great, abiding faith in God's providence and power to provide came to the Plains with the families that settled here. It has become a favorite place for small weddings.
Collections from local citizens are displayed to show what an early day kitchen would be equipped with, basic items like a wood or coal burning cast iron cook stove, pie safe, home built tables and chairs and eventually an ice box or Hoosier's cabinet. A bedroom depicts early day furniture purchased from local furniture in the early 1900's that includes a washstand, dresser and bed with headboard and footboard. The parlor shows a later period as Hereford grew and prospered to where citizens could now have nice furniture, a pump organ and items for family entertainment.
Hereford is located less than sixty miles from the Alibates National Monument. For thousands of years Indians mined the great Alibates flint outcroppings along the breaks of the Canadian River. The museum is fortunate to have on display arrow points, pottery, tools and other Indian artifacts from a private collection.
Other exhibits include a school room typical of one-room schools in rural areas; a unique hand-carved three-ring circus, historic fashions, a millenary shop. A collection of items and art from the Italian prisoners of war that were interred at the POW camp near Hereford during WWII is also showcased.
Outside exhibits include a half-dugout. The half-dugout served as the first home of many settlers on the Plains. There were no forests to furnish lumber for houses, no great outcroppings of stone to furnish for building; so the settlers "dug in". These dwellings proved more than adequate for life on the open prairie
A Santa Fe caboose, wooden windmill, early day jail cells, farm implements and a Wagon Barn displaying a chuck wagon, ice wagon, and other items are also in the outside area.